Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues Worksheet: Free Printable PDF

Search "Benjamin Franklin 13 virtues worksheet" and most of what comes back is a scanned photocopy from 2009, a bare Word template with no formatting, or a listing for a $20 laminated booklet. We wanted the thing those searches are actually looking for, so we built it: a free, properly designed 10-page PDF that recreates Franklin's real 1726 system.

You can download it here — no email address required. Here's exactly what's in it, and why we built it the way we did.

Key Takeaways

• The worksheet is a free, 10-page PDF — no email, no signup
• It uses Franklin's exact wording from the Autobiography, not a paraphrase
• It includes a real fillable weekly tracker, sized to actually write in
• It's designed to print cleanly on standard US Letter paper
• Every page links to a free app, for anyone who'd rather not use paper

What's Actually in the Worksheet

Ten pages, built around three things people actually search for:

The 13 virtues, in full

Every one of Franklin's original precepts — from Temperance ("Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation.") through Humility — printed in full, with a short modern gloss under each so the 300-year-old phrasing is easy to apply today. See the complete list with commentary if you want the long-form version first.

A tracker you can actually write in

Franklin's real system was a small ivory notebook: 13 rows, 7 columns, a dot for every fault. We rebuilt that exact grid at a size meant for a pen, not a magnifying glass — most printable versions online cram all 13 rows into a space too small to mark by hand.

His two daily questions

"What good shall I do this day?" in the morning. "What good have I done today?" at night. The worksheet includes a 7-day journal grid for both, so a week's worth of reflection fits on one page.

Why We Made This

We'd already built the Ben Franklin Virtues app, which digitizes this exact system. But plenty of people specifically want paper — a printable chart to pin above a desk, something to fill in without a phone in hand, or just a clean, accurate reference that doesn't require an app download. There wasn't a good free option that actually got Franklin's wording right, so we typeset one.

How to Use It

1. Read all 13 and pick whichever virtue feels most relevant right now — Franklin started with Temperance, but you don't have to
2. Print the tracker page, or just keep the PDF open on your phone
3. Answer tonight's question — "What good have I done today?" — before you go to sleep
4. Review after a week and decide whether to stay on the same virtue or rotate to the next

For the full four-step version of this method, see how Franklin built self-discipline as a system.